Christopher Belcher, a Department of Veterans Affairs employee, holds a sign during a rally to call for an end to the partial government shutdown, in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. (Associated Press)

The missing paychecks have put pressure on lawmakers and Trump to end the impasse. Some workers posted photos of empty pay stubs on Twitter and vented their frustration.

“I saw the zeros in my pay stub today, and it’s a combination of reality setting in and just sadness,” air traffic controller Josh Maria told the Associated Press.

This portion of Bill Striffler’s electronic pay stub, provided by him to the Associated Press on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, with portions blacked out by him, shows his recent pay to be $0.00 for his work as an air traffic controller at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. (Associated Press)

Trump has floated the possibility of declaring a national emergency to bypass Congress to fund the wall but has walked back his stance in recent days. The White House has also explored diverting money for border wall construction from other accounts, including some of the $13.9 billion allocated to the Army Corps of Engineers.

“What we’re not looking to do right now is national emergency,” Trump said. He insisted that he had the authority to do that, adding that he’s “not going to do it so fast” because he’d still prefer to work a deal with Congress.

That has led to an outcry from officials in Puerto Rico and some states recovering from natural disasters.

“It’s going to p— off a lot of members,” Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Wall Street Journal.